Socialist Fightback Students

On March 28, a decision was made at a Special General Members Meeting of CUPE 3903 (TAs and sessional lecturers at York University) to ban Fightback from picket lines and all spaces associated with CUPE 3903. We are shocked by this decision which was based on misinformation and innuendo. We publish here, Fightback's reponse to this decision.

Alvaro Pardo, Seth Ludwig, Elle Helene, University of Alberta students and members of Socialist Fightback

There has been a sharp and sudden shift in mood among students at the University of Alberta. For the first time in a recent memory, perhaps even in a decade, protests erupted on campus. Students mobilized in great numbers to oppose the administration’s decision to increase tuition for international students by 3.14 per cent, residence rent by four per cent, and implement mandatory meal plan that would result in a massive increase in fees for students. The two latter measures have priced some students out of living in on-campus residency.

On Monday, March 26, the McGill student union (Students’ Society of McGill University, or SSMU) held a general assembly (GA) where a free education motion put forward by Socialist Fightback Students was passed. This motion commits the SSMU to support free education across Canada and the cancellation of all student debt. In addition, the motion stipulates that the SSMU must commit itself to mobilizing for a one-day student strike in fall 2018 via the creation mobilization committees and monthly democratic assemblies to allow the students to democratically decide the future of the movement.

On Monday, March 5th, teaching staff at York University organized in the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) local 3903 will be on strike. This is the final outcome of months-long negotiations with an administration bent on forcing workers to accept concessions and trying to break the union. On Friday, March 2nd, the university workers took a vote confirming they are prepared to strike and reject an employer proposal which included austerity measures and ignored the demands made by the workers at the bargaining table.

York University administration had a full-page document misleadingly titled, “An Open Letter to CUPE 3903 Members” running in the latest issue of Excalibur, which is the undergraduate student newspaper. The letter was also posted across the campus as a poster. This is the latest and lowest move thus far by an administration which is attempting to demonize its own employees in the eyes of its students. The Open Letter is an exercise in sheer spin and distortion.